Never Say Never: Worlds are Closer Than You Think
by R. H. MacLanahan
Summary: First chapter starts out as a one-shot but was continued due to popular demand. Follows Daniel Heffley and his exploits in Hogwarts, Narnia, His Dark Materials, Legend of Zelda, and many more worlds. In the third chapter a new main character is introduced
1. Chpt 1: Narnia

Chapter 1

"**A thousand mile journey begins with one step"- Confucius **

Before I start my story you should probably know my family tree, or at least part of it. My father's, father's, father's father, or my great, great, great grandfather who immigrated from England, was a cousin to Louis Pevensie, who had four grandchildren and three of them had vanished mysteriously. If this does not make sense now, it will later.

My little adventure began when I was at the midnight party for the Harry Potter Encyclopedia, in the Northtown Mall Barnes and Nobles, and then out of nowhere I had nature calling so loud that I sprinted to the nearest restroom.

Upon opening the door I noticed a tugging on the hood of my sweatshirt, thus, I turned around to see what terd was holding me back.

Then, as if it had always been there, when I turned around I saw a giant owl that was about two heads shorter than me, sleeping in a tree. I had also found that it was quite strange that was now standing on a tree branch in instead of outside the bathroom. Since I had never practiced standing upright on a tree branch, naturally, I fell screaming.

Luckily I landed on a patch of earth that seemed too soft to be the ground. As I laid on my back, I wondered if I was a victim of date rape. Then I heard something echo out of the tree I fell out of, "Do you mind?! Some owls need their sleep!" This, having nearly proved to me that I was being raped in a bathroom, was quite shocking, so I did the one thing that sounded like the most logical thing to do.

Get some food.

After about fifteen minutes of scouting I found an apple tree and a huckleberry bush that produced huckleberries the size of grapes. I had also found a nice place to picnic. It was next to a poorly placed gas lantern/streetlight, (Which seemed surprisingly familiar) and by the look of the vines growing on it, it had been there a long time.

When I finished my meal, that tasted a lot richer than it should have, I started to relax and take a nice nap. Then I noticed a very tall woman dressed in earthly colors, had leaves in her vine like hair, and seemed to glide through the trees. Thinking that I might be able to get some answers out of her, I followed.

But no matter how fast I traveled, or asked her to slow down, it seemed like she was fading into the trees. When the tree-lady (as I named her) disappeared completely I found that I was very lost (not that I wasn't lost before) (If you know me, this happens often). After about ten minutes (I still had my watch) of roaming around, which seemed like hours, I heard the sound of trumpets.

That was the best sound I had heard since I had arrived in the strange land. But it was a sign of civilization. I knew running would be foolish because it becomes hard to hear over your heartbeat and breathing, so I walked briskly.

As I came closer to the sound I had crossed a river, lost half of my pant-leg, and said "good afternoon" to a talking hedgehog (Even though lost and confused, one must never forget their manners).

Within five minutes I seemed to have entered a large clearing or the edge of the wood. From it I could see that I was in a large valley and by the position of the sun I could tell that there were tall mountains to the North, West, and South, and maybe an ocean or a lower clearing to the East. I also found the source of the trumpets, and the medium sized army that accompanied them.

This army consisted of two leopards, several dogs, a good sum of dwarves (lack of better term), centaurs (yes I said centaurs), a guy that looked like royalty, and four giants.

Now realizing that I looked absolutely ridiculous wearing an old black coat with torn jeans and a dirty T-shirt, I started to think of something to do. But while I was contemplating about going back into the wood and waiting for a lone person to wander around so I could begin my thoroughly thought out plan, the two leopards had approached me and advised (ordered) me to have council with the High King.

When you find yourself being led through a fully armed group of 'people' who make you feel tall and others that make you feel small and a bit insignificant, you feel pretty humbled (Not to mention scared shitless). It also makes you appreciate seeing another human (it takes away a little bit of that isolated feeling). The High King looked about twenty-three to twenty-five years old, light brown hair, the early makings of a beard, a crown of thick gold wire, had a nice sword, shield, and suit of armor that had seen battle before (he also seemed like a kind of guy you could smoke a cigar with).

When he came closer, I stuck my hand out to shake; he seemed momentarily stunned before he returned the gesture and said, "Well, that proves you are not of Archland, son of Adam, so of where are you from?"

From the way he shook my hand I could tell that he was British and the heavy accent helped a little too, and I knew exactly what to say.

"I am Heffley, Daniel Heffley of Post Falls Idaho."

"What kind of country would name itself Idaho?"

"Oh, sorry, the state of Idaho, of the United States of America."

"By the Lion! You are of Earth!"

"Yeah, but who are you and where am I?"

"Oh, well then, I am High King Peter, King of all Kings of Narnia, I am also the Emp-"

"W-w-w-wait, did you way Narnia?"(my voice was becoming louder and more excited)

"Yes, but how did-"

"And you have three other siblings?!"

"Yes, but how-"

"And great-aunt Susan will be so glad when she finds out!"

"What does Susan have to do with this?"

"YOU'RE ALIVE!" and I gave him a hug.

"Well, I can see that."

The rest of the conversation was not as exciting as the first part, (mainly because a centaur thought I was trying to make an assassination attempt on Peter) so I will summarize.

After explaining that he, Edmund, and Lucy had been missing since before I was born, and great-aunt Susan, whom I had met on a trip to England, never really wanted to talk about it. But when we finished our conversation we were both stumped on how a half a century had passed on Earth and only about ten years in Narnia.

Thanks to one of the dogs, I was almost recruited into the army, but without the proper training I would be a nuisance. So, (Uncle) Peter decided to send me to Cair Pareval to speak with (Aunt) Lucy, who knew more about the transition between worlds, and if I could make good time then I would be able to see Edmund and Susan before they would leave to Tashbaan. But if I were to leave right away and find the beavers, they would lead me the quickest way to Cair Pareval. All I had to do was to follow the stream until I would come across a dam.

After goodbyes and good-lucks I set off to the river. After about an hour's jog I found the beaver's-dam. But to my dismay nobody was home. After trying to find a map hidden in the dark recesses of my brain, (from the books) I figured that if I were to go south-east then I should find Cair Pareval.

A good outdoorsman would know that if you decide to take a hike, at night, without the proper equipment (flashlight, compass, food, star-chart, spacesuit, etc…) would be death. But thank goodness I am not a good outdoorsman, but an excellent one (who doesn't need those kinds of things).

I left the dam at sundown so I knew I had started in the right direction. But after about three hours I figured that I was hopelessly lost and would have to wait till morning.

As I leaned my back against a tree I thought I heard a flute, but I soon ignored it and tried to go back to sleep.

Ten minutes later I was in pursuit of the music. And in the distance I could see the flicker of a large fire and things dancing around it. As I approached it I saw that the things were fauns and tree-ladies (nymphs is the proper name which I learned later) I could feel the warmth of the fire on my skin as I drew closer and it was then I realized how cold and wet I felt from being in the river earlier that day. I decided that I should ask someone the way to Cair Paravel, in hope of making good time.

But before I could ask of anything, a faun named Dribblebone came up to me and said something about "cheerin ya righ up ther" and gave me a cup of something that when drunk made me feel extremely warm. I quickly downed that cup and several more after that. Then I had the strongest urge to dance with the everybody else. I am not sure how long I danced, but I know that I made quite a fool of myself. And the last thing I remember that night was getting a good laugh about how I accidentally called Dribblebone 'Girdlebut'.

When I came to my senses, I was lying down next to a pile of ashes, with roses in my hair, and I was wearing clothes that I did not remember putting on, and I was pretty sure they were not mine. After evaluating that I was wearing brown pants and a green shirt that was made of an extremely comfortable cloth that I could not find a name for, a leather belt, and a brown wool cloak with a hood, but I still had my watch and my shoes. The only thing that was sad was that I was extremely hungry and there seemed to be no food around.

I quickly concluded that the sooner I found the castle, the sooner I would have something to eat. I started to head eastward to see if I could find the valley again before going too far south. After about ten minutes I was out of the wood and a bit farther south than I wanted to be. To the north-east (more east than north) I could see towers.

After a good four hour walk I made it to the gates of Cair Paravel just in time to watch Edmund and Susan's ship sail southward (oh well). Upon going through the gates I met several talking animals, dwarves, and a giant, who all congratulated me for becoming a 'woodsman' or something. But in the end they were able to find Lucy for me.

She was in the courtyard planting apple-cores. After formal greetings and a brief explanation of my journey we concluded this.

"From what Mr. Tumnus and I could figure out was that no matter how you try to solve the time difference, Alsan must be able to change things to fit the way it needs to be, if that makes any sense?" she explained.

I think it does," I replied "I think. But the only thing that does not make sense to me is that why are people congratulating me for becoming a woodsman or something like that?"

After recovering from a burst of giggles, (Lucy was about my age and was still able to do those kinds of things) she replied, "You mean you don't know? Well, um, the clothes you are wearing are only worn by a woodsman, and woodsmen are people that are either engaged or married to a wood-nymph. But by the looks of you, you must be engaged otherwise you would have daisies in your hair, but roses (that I took out because of the thorns) represent that you, well, you know." (The sad part was that she had to explain what "well, you know" meant.)

That night I had the biggest (and most delicious) dinner ever. I had never tasted, chicken, mashed potatoes, apples, grapes, beef, broccoli, (yes I ate broccoli) and a lot of other things I did not recognize.

I ate until I was content, and then some, and later that night I slept on the most comfortable mattress in my life. After sleeping on that all other beds are quite uncomfortable. About two o'clock in the morning I woke up as refreshed as ever and went to the dining hall to eat some breakfast.

Upon entering I saw Lucy talking with a red haired dwarf about plans for a ship. Since I am architecturally inclined, I went over to look at the blueprints (after I grabbed a few grapes). At the fist glance I thought that I had seen the ship before, and then I realized that it was the _Dawn Treader_, but they had named it _Tread of Eve_. After some quick discussing I was able to change the name, have a good sized space in the captain's chambers for a good sized ornament (lion's head), and add six extra bunks under the poop deck. But that was the least of their worries.

"You cannot go, because Peter may call for help!" Lucy yelled at the dwarf.

"But Your Majesty shan't go, because if the High King needs the help, then nobody will be left to hold off any attempts of invasion. Don't even try convincing me, because the Calormen know that King Peter, King Edmund, and Queen Susan are out, and might see this as their time to strike." retorted the dwarf.

This was about the time I thought that I should put in my two cents, "I could go." Their stunned silence did not help with my confidence so I went on, "But first I need to know where I am going and why."

"You would be going to Archland," Lucy said slightly surprised "so they could start building the ship."

"Yeah, I just have to head to the pass between those two peaks, and head south-east, right?"

"Just one day in Narnia, and how do ya know that?" asked the dwarf.

"I am well-read."

Before I could start packing my things (such as a spare set of clothes and some food) Lucy took me to the armory, just in case I ran into some trouble.

She gave me a coat of mail, (which was so light I asked if it was Mithril, and she just looked at me weird) a rapier, a bow and a quiver of arrows, and a chest plate with a lion on it.

After goodbyes and thank-you's (and having Lucy help me steal one of Susan's favorite dresses (for proof)) I set off southward. And by the time I was in the pass (about a day later) I was lost. But this time it was not my fault, it had become foggy enough that it was pitch black. Since I am a good outdoorsman I kept going instead of staying put until the fog cleared.

Then all of a sudden, (as if somebody turned on a light) it was clear as day and I was in front of the castle of Archland, but the gate was closed.

After knocking I saw someone fully clothed in armor on top of the wall (I had a sudden urge to ask for the Holy Grail, but I held my tongue hoping he did not have a French accent). A half an hour later of discussing who I was, where I was from, and who sent me, I had to tie the blueprints to an arrow and shoot it to the guard (Surprisingly he caught it with his bare hand (on my first try)). I told him to keep them in a safe place because you never know when somebody might need the plans for a ship. And before I left I sharpened a certain hook on a certain wall and tied a trip line on the path leading south. On my way back to Narnia (well, I think it was the right path) I ran into a group of Calormen scouting the path for any Narnian that might head to Archland. To get by them I told a great tale of woe about how I had lost everything except for what I wore, and it was my son's dying wish that I meet my wife in Lantern Waste and tell her of his death before traveling south to meet my long lost uncle of Tashbaan. And as easy as that was I was on my way until one Calorman drew his sword.

Unluckily, I drew mine faster and tripped, stabbed him on my way down to the ground, lost grip of my weapon, (mainly because it was stuck in his ribcage) I rolled over, accidentally tripping the second Calorman, and then I grabbed an arrow and lodged the last Calorman's into his eye socket and into his brain (the second one's head made very disgusting noise as it rolled into a sharp rock).

When I dislodged my rapier from a certain ribcage, I cleaned it, and looked up the path to see the back of an enormous lion. Seeing him brought up a lot of excitement, I began to sprint up the path only to be stopped by the men's bathroom door in Barnes and Noble. After regaining my composure (and explaining to the EMTs that I was fine, and the police later that night that I had always owned a dress, rapier and chain mail) I went to the bathroom and finally realized why people must not have to go to the bathroom as much in places such as Narnia.


	2. Chpt 2: Hogwarts

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**WWW ****is not an Internet store**

Before I begin, you should know something about me. My timing is not the best in the world (nor is my delivery of facts). This knack of mine has proven itself to get me out of dates, concerts, classes, and restaurants. But for once, my little problem may just help me.

Now, I have never won anything spectacular in my life (except for that trip to Black Mesa, but that doesn't count), so when I had won an all expense paid trip with a friend to London and a 5,000 VISA, I was pretty surprised (not to mention excited). I decide that the best choice of companionship would be my best friend Jeff Traw (warT). I chose him because my other choice had way too many plans to abduct J.K. Rowling.

Since I am my father's son, I am a bit cheap, so instead of using the VISA to stay at a fancy hotel, I decided that we would stay my fourth great aunt Susan Pevinsie's house (yes I said Susan Pevensie). Having recently been to the land of Narnia and finding Aunt Susan's long lost siblings, I thought it would be nice for her to hear how they were doing. But bringing back memories that a person has been neglecting for the past sixty years was not the best idea.

About an hour after arriving at my aunt's house, she shuffled us out of the door. Upon arriving, I presented Susan with her long lost dress, that her younger sister Lucy helped me steal. At first she looked delighted, but when she realized where it was from, she gave me one of those 'how do you know because you weren't there' looks. Then she looked at the dress, me, dress, me, dress, so on, and so on. After what seemed like an hour (ten minutes) she muttered "H-h-how?"

When I had finished explaining (throughout my explanation Susan kept getting closer to the wine cabinet) she looked like she might have fainted. I decided to change the subject (she looked very stressful) by asking, "How has your life been recently, Aunt Susan?"

When one finds himself being shuffled out of his temporary shelter for the next few days, I realized that certain people don't like remembering certain parts of their past.

So as Jeff and I watched the door slam behind us (not sure how that is possible), one of the great unanswered questions of man arrived. "So what now?" asked Jeff.

After thinking as hard as I could for about one point five seconds, coming up with nothing, and giving up, I concluded, "I don't know, what is there to do?"

"It's London, there has to be something to do."

"Plan 11C?"

"Where are we going to get a tank?"

"Good point."

After consulting my tourist map, which Jeff got from a cute girl from the airport, one of my best ideas came to me. "Why limit ourselves to London? We have a whole island-thingy to ourselves, kind of."

Three hours and five-hundred dollars later, we were on a cab heading north, and going as far as three Euros could take us. The cab driver was a fairly nice guy, but there was something strange about him. It wasn't that he dressed strange, smelled of a weird tobacco, or seemed surprised that we paid him with Euros. It was that whenever he tried to turn on the radio, he turned on the heater, blinker, headlights, or ignition key. But what did calm our nerves was that when he dropped his pipe, he let go of the steering wheel completely to pick it up, and the car seemed to be driving itself, so we knew that there was no need to worry about his driving ability (that wasn't the first time Jeff and I had seen a car drive itself, but I will tell you about Hope later).

When our Euros were used up, he dropped us off next to a herd of sheep and told us of some mysterious ruins to the north that we should look at but not go into. Since we had no other place of great interest to go, we headed north.

The next four days almost seemed like a blur, (probably from all the running) but no fear, we were able to get out of the infected village with only sustaining a couple of bruises (I fell down some stairs), killing nine infected wolves, and hiding from half and fully-crazed people. When we arrived at the ruins, which was no more than a lake, a mansion, and some woods all surrounded by a five foot high stone wall, which was the strangest wall I have ever seen.

First of all, the wall seemed to hum an untoned melody, second of all, there was a sign that read "Touch at your own RISK", and third of all, when touched, the wall hurled you back twenty feet.

After several experiments of throwing rocks, and gear that was apparently forgotten by other hikers, Jeff was able to conclude that if we went over the wall we should be fine (I was unconscious at the time, from a ricocheting mess-kit and my face).

After regaining consciousness and finding a suitable tree, we jumped the wall. When we crossed it, Jeff and I saw that we were facing the wall and still standing next to the tree. A few (14) tries later, we decided to use the gate.

The gate was unlocked (locked with old lock) and was easy to open (break) and upon entering we found a small village. Relieved that we wouldn't have to make camp, we headed for the nearest pub. We quickly learned that this place was a secluded society that magicians (illusionists) could practice their work freely. After ordering whatever the good looking bartendress recommended, Jeff amused several magicians with his basic card tricks (I thought they would have thought he was a neophyte, compared to what they could do, but they seemed highly entertained, and a bit confused on how he was able to choose the card they picked). After all was said and done we headed up into the inn.

After a good night's sleep, Jeff woke me up so that I could look at a shop with three fancy gold W's on it.

"What do you think it stands for?" he asked.

I frowned, "Probably an Internet store, or something like that."

Jeff and I agreed that it probably wasn't an internet store, but it did give us the strangest feeling of de-cha-vu (not to be confused with de-ja-vu), so we went over there to see what their merchandise consisted of.

Upon entering my eyes must have fallen out of my head, rolled on the floor (which would explain that strange splinter), saw something else, and jumped back into my skull for protection. It was because there were many things that my imagination could not dream of thinking of, such as small furry things of various colors, randomly transforming things, talking objects, and many other things I cannot describe.

After a moment or so, a red haired man came out of the back, he was wearing a black cloak thing, and he was missing his left ear, and had several cuts and bruises on his face and hands. Then he approached us.

"What can I do for you boys today?"

Jeff was able to collect his wits faster than me and said, "Sorry for asking, but is this-"

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes! And I am the owner/founder, George Weasley." He seemed suspicious though.

I think Jeff already knew that, because I had dropped what wits that I gathered. So Jeff continued, "Yeah, um, we weren't sure because we're traveling and-"

"From where?" George interrupted.

"I-I-Idaho." I stammered, thinking I should say something.

"Where?"

"North Western United States." Jeff said, preventing me from messing up.

"Then you must be from Rancorden?" the shop owner said as he reached for something in his back pocket.

Jeff replied, "Yeah, so you must know-." He didn't finish because George drew his wand, Jeff was already out of the way but I was too slow, and the spell hit me in the chest knocking me over.

While lying on the ground waiting for something to happen to myself (and praying that it wasn't permanent), I noticed a small red orb the size of a marble over the door vibrating. After I concluded that I was fine. I was able to get up only to see my Geek Squad shirt with the Geek Squad emblem missing and exposing my Narnian chest plate. I also noticed some pidgins that weren't there before. For a second I thought, "Oh no, Jeff" but Jeff had George pinned on the ground with the wand in Jeff's mouth.

Jeff gave me a 'why are you wearing that?' look and I shrugged, "It's comfortable."

When George admitted defeat, we let him up, but kept his wand (just in case). He then went on explaining that there was no Rancorden, and that since the biography of his brother-in-law was published, muggles have been showing up more often than they should, and that's why he had installed the muggle detector (red orb).

"Well, why don't you guys just seal off the gate?" I asked.

"Because Dumbledore thought that if a muggle could find a way in, they should be allowed in. But that was when one or two would come every other year, not every other month." George explained, but not letting his eyes off his wand.

After some negotiating, George said that he wouldn't modify our memories if: 1. we didn't tell anybody about Hogsmead (who would believe us?); 2. to keep an eye out for his nephew Ted Lupin, who was missing for about a week from the Diagon Alley branch of Weasley's Wizards Wheezes; 3. to transport some merchandise to a Kevin Connell in Washington, and keeping some of the merchandise for ourselves; and 4. show him some of Jeff's card tricks and explain how airplanes stay up.

"Couldn't we get a tour of Hogwarts?" I asked while looking at a scale model on a counter.

"No. For two reasons, one being that they have to clean up a mess that Ted made during the banquet, and two, because the teachers are too busy to give tours, so students have to do it, if they are good." Then George went back behind the counter and grabbed a bag of green powder. "But, I believe Professor McGonagall will want to take a look at that armor of yours. So take this floo powder I got from my brother in the Auror Office, it will work in any fireplace, event the unregistered ones. You know how to use floo powder, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, then I'll just send you an owl when you should come and you can get here. Do you have any questions?"

Jeff yelled from across the store, "Do you take VISA's?"

In the end, we left with a crate of black-like powder for a Kevin Connell, a bag of floo powder, two wands that could transform small objects into various things, some joke candy (puking pasties), fireworks, some shield charm gloves, a small truth detector cube thing that would vibrate if someone close by told a lie (it was almost complete waste of money because Jeff and I could barely get through a conversation without it going off, it is now stuffed away in several rolls of socks, and some mild love potions (that would wear off after a couple of hours).

Jeff and I agreed that it would be for the best not to walk back to London, so we were able to get a ride on the Hogwarts Express.

Neither Jeff nor I had been on a train before, so we didn't know what to expect. It was for the best because after an hour of looking out a window, things start to get boring. There were only two times that something exciting happened. The first one being, that we spilled chocolate frogs throughout the cabbin and the second was when the old lady that sold candy started to flirt with Jeff.

Oh, yeah… the infected villagers (with what, I don't know) that I mentioned earlier, stopped the train to get their revenge on us (for what? I still don't know, but Jeff might). Unluckily for them, they stopped that train on a narrow bridge, so they had to be in a single file line. So Jeff, being the pyromaniac that he is, took the biggest (most expensive) firework, which when lit turned into a dragon, and fired it at the villagers. It scared most of them, but only a few jumped off the bridge, and the rest seemed to have disappeared in the fiery lizard.

Other than that, nothing interesting happened on the Hogwarts Express.

When we (finally) arrived at London Station (Jeff and I swore that next time we would go on a train, there would be more people and alcohol) we were tired of candy and wanted to get some real food, but there was one problem. We didn't know how to get off the platform nine and three quarters.

After about a half an hour of search, I noticed something shiny (I like shiny things) under one of the benches. It looked like a dull shiny because when I came closer I noticed that there were two rings covered in a lot of dust.

When I pulled both of them from out of underneath the bench, I saw that I was standing the middle of some woods with pools scattered everywhere.

"Shit…"


	3. Chpt 3: His Dark Materials

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Awkward Moments**

The ability to truly know yourself is a great accomplishment. Many of the highest thinkers didn't truly know themselves, even Gandhi. One way to fully understand yourself is to meditate long and hard, or another way is to not think of yourself at all and when you finally think of yourself, you will see yourself truly. But in my case I came to know myself by tripping.

When you find yourself in the woods between the worlds (yes I knew where I was) there are two things you need to remember. Number one, don't take a nap; number two, mark which pool you came from.

So after taking a nice long nap, I sensed something strange about the wood, it wasn't quiet. From what I could hear was a soft footsteps, an occasional splash, and every once in a while, the beating of wings. Then I saw a slight shimmer in the air, as if someone distorted the light somehow and I watched it 'jump' into a pool. And as I turned around, clutching the green ring, to go back into my pool, my foot became caught under a root and I fell into the wrong pool, and a sudden feeling of nausea and lightheadedness came over me.

Now, I am not one to believe in fate, but when I am thrust into a situation (non-intentionally), I do my best to make the best out of the situation. So when I figured out that I was lying down on a boat, I could tell it was a boat by the constant shifting, and not in London, and it was no surprise that I had a crossbow pointed at my throat in a matter of seconds. The person with the crossbow was an older woman with a falcon on her shoulder. She looked nice but very stern, and after a close examination of me she called, "Lyra! You've got a visitor!"

"How?" came a voice I could only assume was Lyra's, "Nobody knows I am here."

I could tell that she was below deck and there was some concern in her voice.

Then the strangest thing happened, the falcon leaned over to the woman's ear and whispered, "How could he have gotten here?" That left me in a small state of shock where I was finding it hard to think (let alone come up with a clever plan).

When a girl about 18 years of age with a kind of dirty blond reddish hair, and a little pine-marten came and looked over me (and me looking suspiciously between the pine-marten and falcon) she gave one of those girl 'squeaks' of surprise and the crossbow was lowered.

Taking that as a sign to get up, I stood up. I saw that I was on a boat that was ashore almost under a bridge, which helped me come up with (in my opinion) a pretty good fib.

So I looked up at the bridge and shaking my fist, "Nice one Traw, you'll regret that!" Yelling helped calm my nerves, then I turned to the older woman and said, "Sorry about that ma'm, Jeff thinks it is funny to use other people's fears against them." I could feel the lie detector vibrating in my pocket.

It was about then when the falcon flew at me, which is quite startling, and I found myself with a crossbow at my throat again.

I waited for the older woman to say something, but it was Lyra who spoke up.

"Who are you, and where do you come from? And don't lie because we can easily tell you're not from our world." The pine-marten was sniffing my feet.

Seeing that honesty would be the best policy, I replied, "I am Daniel Heffley, I am from Post Falls, Idaho. I was in a forest and I tripped over a root and fell into a pool which seems to end up on this lovely boat." I thought it would be best if I didn't tell the whole truth.

Then the pine-marten looked up, "He smells a lot like Will's world but with a couple of other places too."

"Not realizing until then that I had, in fact, been confronted by talking animals before, I was able to relax a little bit.

Lyra was now sniffing me also (Maria had done that enough times it didn't bother me) and she concluded the same thing. The only thing I could come up with was that Will had the same deodorant as me. But after that, things began to smooth out and I was able to put the green ring in my pocket. I had been squeezing it so hard that it left an imprint on my hand. Then we headed down into the lower deck where Ma Costa, the older lady, cooked us some lunch. The conversation mainly consisted of who I was, what was an Eyeduhoe, why I was wearing a suit of armor ("it's comfortable"), and if I knew a Will Parry. "I don't know a Will, but my stepbrother's name is Michael Perry, with an e." I said, and took a drink of some good tasting beverage.

"Do you know a Mary Malone?" Lyra asked intensely, piercing me with her eyes (I hope she wasn't undressing me with them).

"No, but I have a question for you." I said feeling that it was my turn to ask, "What is the history with your talking pets?"

This caused them, including the falcon and pine-marten, to flinch at my words and I had entered into one of the most awkward moments in my life (third to be exact).

When the eternity of ten seconds passed, Lyra went on to explain how the Pantalaimon, the pine-marten, was actually her soul, and, in her words, took the shape of an animal. They are never thought of as such, they were called dæmons, and that I had one but it (most likely a she) hadn't shown itself, yet.

She then went on to tell about how she met Will Parry, and their grand adventure to the underworld. It all had to do with something about Will's knife and she talked up till they met a Mary Malone. It was a great story and I could tell that she was telling the truth, but part of me knew that I couldn't trust her. It could have been that Pan was a restless throughout the retelling. When it was dark out Ma Costa sent us on our way.

After saying our thank you's and goodbyes (I told Ma Costa that the next time I was over I would bring my fishing gear) we headed north. I was a bit surprised to see that the stars were mostly exactly like the ones back on my world, I thought I should let you know, if you know what I mean.

I had never been to Oxford in my world, so it was pretty new to me, but the further we walked, the bigger the one question became.

"So, is there anywhere here I could sleep tonight?" I asked looking for anything that resembled a hotel.

"Not any place that won't first question you to death about your missing dæmon," she replied coolly.

"Didn't you say that I had a dæmon, but it isn't visible."

"Yeah, but I don't have the slightest idea of how to make visible."

"Couldn't I just stay till it happened…? Not that I have a choice." I had nearly given myself away.

"I don't know how long it would take, but I do know that you can't stay more than several years out of your own world, or you'll die." Lyra gave a slight sigh, "But Serafina Pekkala taught Mary Malone how to see hers, but I wasn't paying attention."

"Oh… wonder what mine would be?"

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure your dæmon would be settled by now." Lyra then smiled at Pantalaimon, who was walking in front of us.

I stopped out of confusion, "Settled?"

"Settled. When someone becomes old enough their dæmon will take a shape that matches the person's personality." Lyra picked up Pan. "Yours I would guess would be a fox."

"Fox? Why?" I started walking again.

She smiled, "I have my reasons."

(What reasons?)

When ten minutes of walking went by, we ended up at a place called Jordan College. It was a set of reddish brown buildings that were in a rectangular formation, making the interior of a courtyard. It reminded me of Redwall.

Lyra had a small room in one of the buildings that I could sleep in. The room consisted of a bed, window, and drawer. It was very nice. She was going to sleep in her dorm at St. Sophia's, so I was left with the instructions to, "… not leave the room unless it is an emergency, and the latrine is down the hall." Then Lyra and Pan left.

The room was very nice, except that there was no outlet to plug in my MP3 player, but I'm not sure I wanted to give myself away with Queen. Before I went to bed I took off my chain mail and chest-plate, polished them, and set them next to my backpack. I took the green ring out of my pocket and placed it in my pack next to my MP3 player in my bag. I then put the yellow ring in a sock (a lot harder said than done) and neatly folded it into my pants pocket for safety.

Knowing that Jeff was probably out with a girl call Kassia Wood, whose uncle was a famous sport-which-name-escapes-me player, Jeff met at the airport. I went to bed without worry.

The mattress wasn't the best in the world, but it sufficed and I was asleep within an half an hour.

Despite not having music, I slept pretty well. Well… until I was woken up by my armor being tipped over. Being a well trained swordsman (kind of), I was on my feet in a matter of seconds with non-existent sword drawn (you don't know how much it costs to get a sword on a plane), and then I was face down on the bed again. I had misjudged the height of the ceiling.

When I recovered, I saw that there was something rummaging through my stuff. When my eyes focused, I saw who it was.

"Pantalaimon."

The weasel looked up out of the bag with something in his mouth, and a small book-like thing under an arm. I jumped after him just to see him hop out the window down into some bushes. I nearly went after him, but I could see the sun was about to rise, so I didn't bother (I also had to go to the bathroom).

After a quick inventory check, I figured that Pan had stolen the green ring and my MP3 player. As much as I wanted them back, I knew there would be serious consequences if I left the room.

So I waited, and waited, and waited some more. I was able to entertain myself by reading A Prisoner of the Bears by Professor Jotham D. Santelia. There was a note in it for Lyra, thank her for helping the author escape the bears and blah, blah, blah about other things I couldn't make sense of. The book itself, all in all, was an okay read, but I think there was too much ranting about some dude that screwed over the author. But reading it gave me some insight of the religious based government, which reminded me of Soviet Russia, which would later become useful.

I never finished the book, mainly because it was boring, and that I noticed from leaning back onto my pillow, there was something wrong with the ceiling. The ceiling was made of planks of wood, which were furnished, glued, and placed as a ceiling. But one plank was a bit out of place, probably from where I hit my head the night before. I stood up to take a closer look, and saw that I didn't break the ceiling, but I uncovered a small storage compartment. The space was about one foot high, one foot wide and three feet long. In it there was a large coat, a couple of letters, and a watch. There wasn't anything interesting about the cloak, but the three letters were interesting (I know they were private and I shouldn't have read them, but you try to go a day isolated in a room with nothing to do, and not read the letters). They were meant for meant for the Will guy Lyra mentioned earlier, and by reading them I was able to see that there was something between them that I cannot describe (one was very intimate and made me blush, and I never finished it). I looked at the watch and saw that it was a TIMEX, and I took it as solid proof that Will Parry must be in my universe/world.

I then realized what I had to do, but it wasn't going to be easy. I also realized that Lyra must have known that I was lying earlier, so I would have to fuss up to get her to trust me, so I could get the ring back.

After my revelation, I felt something rub against my leg. That caused me to jump, and with my head in a small place, I slammed it into the ceiling. When I finished a small cussing fit, I stepped down to see what had touched me.

Upon stepping down, I didn't see anything unusual, except that the window was open, but I wasn't sure if I had left it that way. I went over to inspect it, when I heard the soft footsteps of padded feet. Thinking I would turn around quickly and surprise Pan, I took a couple of steps toward the window, turned around, and yelled because my plan backfired.

Sorry to interrupt this suspenseful moment, but I have a strange feeling to quiz you (the reader). When I turn around who is going to be there? A. Jeff Traw, B. Pantalaimon, C. Lyra, D. Master of Jordan College, E. a stray cat, F. Jack Sparrow, or G. all of the above.

If you chose any of those, then you are wrong.

But as I was saying, I turned around and instead of seeing Pan like I expected (or any of the other people I listed) but a lynx, wild cat, flying towards me at an incredible rate, at least until it impacted with my chest, making me fall on my back and having my head collide with the floor. I had made a nice loud 'thump' that I expected someone to hear, but before anybody came the Lynx spoke.

In a clear, smooth voice she said, "So… what were you doing up there?"

After a few seconds, I replied, "Just looking around and I let my curiosity get the best of me."

She started to get off my chest, but stopped when saw the letter, then she stepped on it and asked, "Then what's the letter for."

"Leverage." So she let me up.

I stood up and walked over to the bed and sat on it, the lynx followed. She was (is) silvery gray with dark grey stripes all over and had (has) a white underbelly. She was (is) a little under three feet long, and one and a half feet high. She was (is) very beautiful, but not at all harmless, I could see that her large paws held some large claws. When she came close enough, I reached down and pet her, only to feel how soft her fur was (is) under my fingers. When I finished, she jumped onto the bed and sat with me.

So I asked, "I guess you're my dæmon then?"

"Guess so." She replied.

"You have a name?"

"Not that I know of."

"Anything that you would like to be called?"

"Not that I know of."

"Anything that stands out?"

"Not that I know of."

"Anything at all?"

"Not that I know of."

"Do you know anything?"

"Yes."

But before I could continue my interrogation, the door to the room flew open and there was a man in a white and red robe with a ginger cat dæmon, and he was holding a small handgun, one of those you could fit in a coat pocket. The guy was probably in his mid twenties, and by the books that were on the floor next to his feet meant that he was a scholar.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?!" he demanded. His hand holding the gun was trembling.

I slowly stood up and said, "I am Daniel Heffley, a friend of Lyra. She is letting me stay here, and she is coming by later today."

He relaxed a little, but I'm not sure he was completely convinced. "Then what was that noise I heard earlier? And why is the window open?"

"The window is open to keep air flow, and what you heard was Aleone pushing me off the bed."

The scholar sighed and dropped his arm, he said he was sorry for the disturbance, and if I needed anything ask for Jake Manuel, and he left.

When he shut the door Aleone looked up at me and said, "Aleone… That's the best you can come up with is Aleone?'

"Well, do you like it?" I asked.

"Yeah."

We decided that Lyra wasn't going to be back anytime soon, so I got dressed, I decided that I would fit in better if I wore my brown cloak, and I packed everything, incase we needed a quick getaway, and we left. Well, before we left, we grabbed a map and asked Jake where we (it's weird saying we now) could find Lyra.

"Um… If she isn't at St. Sophia's, or the botanic gardens, then I don't know where she could be." So we headed of to St Sophia's.

Instead of taking the streets, Aleone and I cut through a park that was holding an open market/fair thing. I have been to several of these back when I was a kid, but I hadn't ever seen people arc electricity between each other, breath fire (I actually mean 'breath' fire, not burping into a match), there was a woman who could fly by holding a stick, and a cage full of extremely large bats call cliff-ghasts (a pretty good name in my opinion). I also noticed a lot of men in dark blue uniforms with weird pointed helmets, whom I guessed to be the local authorities, and then the words gypsies and carnies came to mind. I was so enthralled by the sights and sounds that I walked backwards into a metallic pole that gave of sound through vibrations, and when I bumped into it, it must have done something to my phone because it started to vibrate.

I pulled the phone out of my pocket, only to have it slip out of my hands, hit the ground and start ringing the worst tone in the phone. I quickly learned that this world wasn't acquainted with the marvelous invention of the cell phone, and panic quickly ensued, mainly because somebody screamed 'bomb'. A local Authority with a terrier dæmon went after my cell phone, but Aleone picked it up with her mouth and we ran in the direction of what we thought was toward St. Sophia's. We tried hiding in a tent that had a large machine which reminded me of an early twentieth century camera, but Aleone and I left when it started making noises.

Other than that, we were able to escape easily enough through the crowds of panicked people, but trying to consult a map in a panicked crowd is not the best, unless you want to lose the map then it is a good idea.

Hoping that Aleone had a better sense of direction than me, we headed in the direction we thought St. Sophia's should be.

We walked for about twenty minutes, but stopped at a deserted street called Juxon, when we saw a steam or canal at the end of the street. I turned to face Aleone to ask her, "What now?" but before I could say anything, Aleone Said I one of those harsh whispers, "Whatever you do, don't turn around."

Doing my best to resist the urge to turn around, I asked, "Why?"

"Pantalaimon is coming down the street."

"What's he doing?"

"From what I can see, trying not to be seen."

We waited for what seemed like an hour, Aleone saw Pan go into a house on the other side of the street I was facing.

We walked over to the door and put our ears next to the door, only to hear Lyra and some guy talking.

The guy talking sounded concerned, "I don't know how you were able to get your hands on something like this ring, but I would bet a good some of money on that it is one of the very and it doesn't belong here, and most likely sought after by others. Other than that, I can't tell anything else from it."

Then Lyra said, "Well, thank you Mr. Makepeace, but it seems that a friend of mine has gone missing, so I need to go."

I turned to Aleone, "Crap. Pan was checking up on me." But before we could do anything else, we heard footsteps coming to the door, so I flipped up my hood and started off walking away from the house, toward the canal/stream, hoping that Lyra or Pan wouldn't recognize me.

"At first it worked great, the combination of the hood and Aleone, they didn't recognize me. Well, that was until for some strange reason, Colleen decided to call me to see if I had met J.K. Rowling yet, my cell phone started to ring that one tune everybody has on their cell phone (the DA DA da DA da DADADADAdaDDADDAA one). I tried to shut it off but the phone slipped out of my hands again, and by the time I picked it up, Pan and Aleone were greeting each other.

Being the bigger person (and knowing to accept defeat), I turned to Lyra and asked, "So why did you steal my stuff?"

She replied quicker than I expected her to, "Why did you leave?"

"Who was that guy in there?"

"Why do you have a wanted poster?"

"I have a wanted poster?"

"How did you really get here?"

"Why do you want to know?"

She slapped me.

"What was that for?"

Luckily she didn't ask any more questions, because I ran out. While we were 'bickering' Pan and Aleone were sitting next to each other staring at Lyra and me.

A couple of minutes of awkward silence ensued (number two). Lyra broke the silence by saying that she saw the imprint of the ring on my hand and knew that I was lying on how I arrived there. So I told her that Aleone and I left because we became bored. Then I introduced her to my dæmon and we headed to Jordan.

On the way, I explained how I received my suit of armor and the rings, and she explained that Pan stole my empethree player because it seemed important, and that the man was an alchemist (they still exist?)

When we arrived at the Jordan College courtyard, I told Lyra that I needed to head home because my plane (she didn't know what a plane was) was going to leave in a few hours.

Pan and Lyra wanted to come with us, so I said that Aleone and I had some unfinished business to take care of first, which was a lie, but they don't know won't hurt them.

When we entered Lyra's bedroom, I dug the yellow ring out of my sock, and careful not to touch it, showed Lyra. I had started to put my backpack on, when I heard Pan whisper something to Lyra and I realized that I had forgotten to close the compartment above the bed. I quickly made sure I had everything, picked up Aleone, said a quick goodbye, and grabbed the yellow ring.

As I was leaving, I heard Lyra say, "You son of a…" but that's all I heard before the lightheaded nausea kicked in.

Aleone and I came out into the wood and marked the pool by placing a spare pencil next to the pool, we planed on making signs later.

Then I switched rings and Aleone was able to find the pool I came out of by smelling it (who knew universes had different smells)

When we arrived at Kings Cross we found a Post-It note on the bench, it said that Jeff didn't find it funny that I had left without telling him how to get out, and that he wasn't going to tell me the hotel he was staying at.

Nothing interesting happened until Aleone and I met up with Jeff at the airport, well at least I did, because Jeff couldn't see or hear Aleone (strange), nor could anybody else. But while waiting in the security line, I noticed, actually Aleone noticed, a woman who had a small black sparrow that resembled a raven on the woman's shoulder, which was odd because no bird would have like the noise of an airport.

Besides that, nothing happened worth mentioning, until I woke up in a cold sweat on the plane.

I must have woken Aleone up since she was on my lap and she asked, "What's wrong?"

"I forgot my MP3 player in Lyra's bedroom."

Look I know how to spell dæmon on a computer, ha ha.

Alt 145


	4. Chpt 4: Moments with Aleone

Chapter 4

Moments with Aleone: part 1

Now, as you may guess, having a dæmon in my (our) world makes a drastic change in day to day life. Since there is no logical place to insert some moments with Aleone in day to day life, I decided to create a chapter of various occurrences.

The first one happened a couple of days after arriving home from England. Before having Aleone in my life, I had a tendency to wake up suddenly and not be able to go back to sleep. That morning, I was having the normal dream of Maria molesting me (absolutely horrible experience), when all of a sudden I wake up with razor sharp claws inserted into my back. Since I wasn't used to having a dæmon, I jumped up, screamed (like a guy, contrary to Aleone's version) /but mine is true, and proceeded the stop, drop, and roll position before realizing who was on my back.

"Aleone, what the hell was that for?"

She gave me a puzzled look and said, "That's what I usually do when I have strange dreams /Daniel has weirder dreams/."

"Is that the only time you wake me up?"

"No, sometimes it is fun just to mess with you," she said reassuringly.

The next event happened about a week later while I was doing some writing. I felt something rub against my leg in a cat-like way. I looked down to see my cat Pugsley (I know it is a dog's name) wanting attention. I was too absorbed in my work to give him all that he wanted, but Aleone became interested and hopped of the couch to greet Pugs. Pugsley was surprised at first but gave the (what I think to be) formal cat greeting of touching noses. They stared at each other for a few minutes until Pugs became bored and went to find someone who would pay him more attention.

"What did he have to say," I asked Aleone with interest.

She retorted, "Does it look like I can speak cat?"

I couldn't help but smile at the lynx next to me.

"Don't you dare answer that question." She demanded and then proceeded to ignore me for the next few hours /Don't you **dare** laugh/.

The last occurrence noticeable enough to make the cut was at my best friend Jeff's house. There we play HALO for countless hours, so about a few days /five/ in Aleone was getting irritated (women?) and started to wail like, well a cat. To shut her up I ran my fingers through her fur, she absolutely loves the feeling (she gets it from me) so that Jeff's two dogs wouldn't go crazy. If I were in Lyra's world it would have been completely acceptable to calm your dæmon, but I wasn't in Lyra's world.

"What the in hell are you doing?" Jeff asked looking highly confused at me (in his eyes) petting the air.

"Can't you feel that draft?"

Besides those events, nothing out of the ordinary happened /don't make me laugh, except those morning when Aleone hides under the bed and scares me half to death in the morning when my toes are punctured by somebody's claws (not Pugsley's) /Well, it may be different if you didn't hog the whole bed at night/.

Oh, yeah. If you hadn't noticed, Aleone's comments are in the / /. /Mine are better/ (But you are not in charge of the typing. So... HA!)


	5. Chapter 8: Where there is a Will

Chapter 8

Where there is a Will, There is a Way

I have always been told by my father that there is always a second or third point of view to a story. That is probably why I like The Real Story of the Three Little Pigs, but that's beside the point. A different view offers more insight to what happens in a situation /like in CSI/. My father also told me that for every choice, there is a consequence, good or bad. And that phrase has come and bit me in the ass several times over.

Although many of my exploits have gone unnoticed to most people, there are a few that have noticed, and even fewer that I have tried to make notice.

One of those persons that I have tried to make notice thought that my strange disappearances and strange reappearances with various strange objects, such as a suit of armor in a Barnes and Noble, as part of my crazy antics which I had planned before hand.

She also thinks I have lost some /some?/ of my marbles, since she couldn't see Aleone, she thought I was talking to the voices in my head. The final reason she didn't believe me is, well, it's a reason I can't tell you unless you already know, but you most likely don't. So don't ask.

So to make Colleen Durgan believe, and not having her turn me in to the people in the white coats (who are very nice), I took her to my house to show what I had collected through my exploits.

"So, why am I here again?" Colleen asked as she followed me into my room.

"To prove to you once and for all that I am not making things up," I said as I walked over to my bed. Aleone crawled under my bed and pushed out the box I kept my stuff in. "Thank you."

"What?" Colleen asked.

"Not talking to you."

"Right," she said unconvinced.

I reached down and pulled out my chain mail just to be looked at and told, "Didn't your fifth aunt give that to you?" So I put it back into the box and pulled out my cloak and put it on to reveal the shield I had received I received a dirty look for reminding her of what happened when I turned up with the shield.

"Okay, time for the big guns," I reached down into my box of wonders and pulled the trick wand and tapped Colleen's necklace and it turned immediately into a butterfly. Aleone and Colleen both watched the butterfly fly around the room. I had finally convinced her.

"Where did you get that?" she asked.

"Weasley's Wizard Wheezes," I replied while looking for other things to show to her.

I showed Colleen a couple of other things, such as the floo powder, and a lock of brown hair, but what caught her attention the most was a couple of letters.

"Who's Lyra Silvertongue?"

"Friend of mine. Why?"

"No reason."

Then I showed her my prized possessions… the rings (Bum Bum Bummmm). I am not going to tell you (the reader) where I keep them, so don't ask, but I do keep them in a plastic bag for safety.

After the 'oohs and ahhs', I had started to put the rings away, but stopped when Aleone yelled at me. I turned around to see what the commotion was, and saw Colleen with letters in one hand, a handful of floo powder in the other and she was running towards the fireplace in the living room.

I shoved the rings into my pocket, grabbed the bag of floo powder and Aleone and I ran after Colleen. We watched her mumble something and jump into the green flames. I threw some powder in the fireplace, picked up Aleone, clearly said, "Where ever she went to." and jumped in.

If I had to choose my favorite form of travel, I definitely would avoid floo travel. Not only do you spin in circles, hear strange noises, and feel like your falling, you also have no clue to where you are going to end up.

So when we slid out of a foreign fireplace, and bumped into something that sounded like Colleen, Aleone and I were pretty relieved. I sat up, and after my eyes adjusted to the darkness of night, I saw that we were in a den-like room with a desk, a couple of chairs facing the fireplace, some bookshelves, an open door at the opposite end of the room, pictures on the walls, and of course, a fireplace. Since there was no movement that Aleone, or I, could hear in the house, I asked in a whisper to Colleen, "Where in the world are we?"

"In Will Parry's house." she whispered back.

"How do you know he lives here?"

"Because I'm a goddess, that's why." she sounded proud of that remark.

"Okay, but did yo-," I didn't finish because Aleone nudged me, and motioned to the door. At the door, there was a black cat sitting with its back toward us and its ears were pointed forward. It didn't know we were there.

I leaned closer to Colleen and whispered as soft as I could, "What ever you do, don't make a sound."

"Why?" she asked just as quietly.

"Because there is a cat at the door, but I don't think it knows we are here."

Colleen looked at the door and looked back at me. "What cat?"

"The one right there, just outside the door." I whispered pointing.

"There is no cat."

"Yes there is, it's right there." Aleone became bored, jumped up onto one of the chairs and started to clean the soot of herself /they bicker like that all the time, it gets annoying/.

"No there isn't."

"Yes. There i-" the cat turned around, saw us, and ran off. "Great, you scared it away."

"There was no cat."

Deciding that I was going to prove Colleen wrong (which she usually isn't wrong, so I like it when I am right), I sat still when we heard footsteps on the floor above us. It was about two minutes later that the light turned on revealing a guy with dark hair, about eighteen years old, and was holding a shotgun, with the cat at his feet. He looked at Colleen, blinked and lowered his gun.

"If I knew you were coming Colleen, I would have let you in the front door." He said in a concrete voice.

Colleen replied, "Well, it was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, you know how those go, and we came here as quickly as possible."

I stood there, quite dumbfounded (it seemed like a recurring event lately), and I was trying to make sense of it all when Will said, " So, does your friend in the robe have a name or does he just stand there for decoration?"

"Oh, sorry. Will, this is Daniel Heffley. Daniel this is the Will you were looking for."

Will stepped forward and reached out his hand. I replied by shaking it firmly, making eye contact (extremely fierce eyes) with him for a few seconds and then looked over his shoulder to make eye contact with the cat.

"Is there something bothering you?" Will asked.

"Yeah," I replied, "two things. The first one being that is it me that can only see the black cat behind you, and how in the world do you two know each other?"

Will looked at me, and for a brief instant I could tell that his face said to disregard the first question for the time being. Colleen didn't notice because she was busy looking at for the cat behind Will /she was looking at his butt more than she searched for the cat/.

Then they explained how they met. Will's father had gone on an expedition to Alaska in '95 and one of his comrades was Colleen's uncle, whom both mysteriously disappeared. Colleen and Will met when Will came to the U.S. to meet up with the families that lost loved ones to the expedition. They both had been keeping in touch with each other for the last six months.

It was about then when Aleone finished cleaning herself and jumped off the chair. You should have seen the look on Will's face /and the cat's too, but he recovered by saying that he needed to use the bathroom and I said that I needed to go also. So we left Colleen in the room by herself.

Will and I and the cat and Aleone were out of earshot from Colleen, Will turned to me and harshly said, "Where do you really come from and what do you want from Kirjava and me. Our dæmons were staring intensely at each other.

"Aleone and I are from this world, if that is what you mean, and we just want to help." I replied sharply.

"Help with what!?"

"You should talk to Colleen about that."

"Can she see your dæmon, because some people can see them, even out of the corner of their eyes, if they aren't concentrating."

"No, but she knows more than most." I paused, "Oh yeah, Lyra and Pan told me to give you their regards."

After I said that, I knew I should have let that part out until later. My reasons? Well, in a matter of seconds, Will had grabbed my shirt and shoved me into the wall. It was then that I noticed he was missing two of his fingers. But Aleone had Kirjava pinned to the floor. A stalemate.

"What did you just say?" he demanded.

"Ask Colleen about the letters, she's the one who decided to come here." I said just as fiercely, "And that is all I'm going to say about that because I really have to go to the bathroom."

He let go and Aleone jumped off Kirjava. "The door on the right." Will said and when he started to walk away, I think I heard him say 'bloody American'.

It was then when I learned that Will and I were not going to get along very well.

After that, I relieved myself and went back to the room we left Colleen was in. When Aleone and I walked in Colleen was sitting in a chair while Will was reading the letters. He finished and asked, "How did you get these?"

I pulled the plastic bag out of my pocket. "Have you ever read The Chronicles of Narnia?" /In fact, he had/

When we all arrived in the wood between the wood between the worlds, I learned that when traveling with one or two people is okay, but the pools were not meant to let five people pass through. So after figuring which limbs belonged to whom, we headed for the pool marked with a pencil.

"Ok," I said, "before we go in, there are some rules we need to go over. One, nobody must know that we are from another world, so if either of you have a cell phone, turn it off." Colleen disliked this rule very much. "Second, Colleen is not allowed to be seen until the time is right." Will nodded in agreement, but Colleen asked why. I ignored her, "And third, we must stick to the code until deemed otherwise."

"The code?" asked Will.

"The code. He who falls behind, gets left behind…Until it is deemed safe enough to retrieve him." Neither of them seemed to be happy about the last rule /He was acting like Tom Sawyer/.

To avoid mix-up or loss of appendages, we made a circle around the pool and jumped in.

When the feeling of nausea and lightheadedness passed, I was entwined with Will and Colleen in a very uncomfortable position (not just physically). We untangled ourselves, and saw that we were in Lyra's bedroom at Oxford, luckily neither Lyra nor Pan were there.

I had started to walk over to the door to see if the hallway was clear when Colleen let out an extremely high pitched scream and she jumped onto the bed pointing at Aleone. I couldn't help but laugh, and it looked like Will found it amusing as well.

When Colleen had finished squealing, I looked at Aleone and said, "It's about time she noticed you."

Aleone smiled and replied, "Well, at least she didn't smack her head on the ceiling like you did."

That caused Colleen to point and scream again (just as amusing the second time) and Will laughed out loud. After we were able to calm Colleen down, there was a knock at the door.

"Who's in there?" came a familiar voice.

I recognized it at once to be Jake Manuel from my last visit and I replied, "One second," and motioned to Will that we needed to hide Colleen. Kirjava figured that under the bed would be the best because the covers reached all the way to the floor.

It was quite easy to get Colleen under the bed, the shock from the strange talking wildcat that wasn't there before helped Will roll (actually roll) Colleen under the bed. Once Colleen was nice and hidden, I turned to the door and was about to open it, when it suddenly burst open with Jake holding his mini-handgun and his ginger cat dæmon ready to pounce. He looked at Will, then me, keeping the gun pointed at me he asked in an unsteady voice, "What are you doing here?"

"Will and I are just passing through and we needed a place to sleep." I replied coolly and Will nodded.

"Don't give me that bullshit," he retorted angrily, "I know you're wanted by the Magisterium, so it's best if you tell the truth."

I thought for a second, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me?"

I looked at Will for some instruction, but his face was empty, so I told Jake the truth. "Okay, I am from another world and I brought Will here to meet up with his long lost girlfriend."

Jake looked at me steadily and said, "I said tell the truth… What's with the girl under the bed?" I looked down to see his dæmon walk away from the bed.

Within the next seven seconds, Aleone let out a small roar and jumped onto Jakes dæmon; I grabbed Jake's wrists and slammed them against the wall so that he dropped the gun. Then I was able to wrestle him to the ground, and while we were exchanging blows, Will came over and broke a flower vase over Jake's head.

I pushed Jake's limp body off me and said, "It's about time, any longer and we would have had to invite him to tea-time." I received a dirty look (last time I insulted tea-time).

Aleone was able to knock out the ginger cat, so we dragged the scholar to the corner of the room and ripped up some sheets to tie and gag him up.

When Will and I finished he muttered, "Well, that could have gone worse."

"Yeah, but the hardest part is yet to come." /I don't know why he talks like that sometimes/ I replied as I knelt down to get Colleen out from under the bed.

Okay, before you (the reader) make any assumptions about Colleen having a fear of Canadian Lynxes, talking animals, or late nineteenth century bedrooms (apparently I don't count /yes you do, but your in a class unto itself/(I'm not part of the babbling idiot class, if that is what you mean)/). But ask yourself if you have traveled to a different world (if you have /you are lying/ good for you), see a talking wild animal, and have a guy with a gun demanding to into the room you are in, and not fear for your own sanity.

Now trying to coax someone who has been through all that out from under a bed isn't as easy as it sounds. I tried talking, threatening, cussing, saying strange words (glurbdriot), offering a cookie, offering a shiny thing, and some blue collar comedy, but they all failed. Will didn't help at all and just by Jake looking at me as if I was an idiot.

I was about ready to send her back to the wood between the worlds, when Aleone volunteered to talk to Colleen. I didn't stop her because I was out of ideas.

I couldn't hear what Aleone was saying but I got the jist of the conversation was about. I don't like receiving Aleone's thoughts, so I do my best to block them out.

While Aleone was talking to Colleen, Will asked, "What now?"

"Well, my initial plan was to have Jake tell Lyra to meet us in some place isn't going to work, so one of us is going to have to get her." I replied.

"Colleen can't because she doesn't have a dæmon."

"I know that." I snapped.

"You do know that I have no idea where to find Lyra, and I will stand out like a sore thumb with my clothes." Will said.

The next few minutes were spent in silence, except for the murmurs from under the bed. I looked at the bed and the idea came.

"What are you doing?" asked Will as I jumped onto the bed and opened up the secret compartment. I noticed that the other letters were gone when I pulled out the cloak/cape and tossed it to Will. He was too surprised for words.

I guess that my shenanigan on the bed signaled Aleone and Colleen to come out because when I finished going through the closet for some clothes for Colleen, both of them were staring at me.

"I'm guessing Aleone filled you in on the whole dæmon concept." I asked Colleen.

She nodded, "Yeah."

"Here's the plan," I continued, "You, Will, and Kirjava are going to a place where Will and Kirjava know how o get to." I turned to Will.

"The Botanic Gardens south of here." He replied, "Do you know how to get to St. Sophias?"

"Yes," I lied, "So Aleone and I are going to get Lyra and meet up with you guys at the Botanic Gardens."

Almost immediately after agreeing to that plan, Aleone and I set out for St. Sophias. Once we were out of Jordon College the phrase "Do you know how to get to Lyra?" came up.

It was a clear night so it was easy to navigate north. The forty-five minute walk consisted of little talking, but somehow we were able to find a large rectangular building with gold letter spelling SOPHIA.

We circled the building once and decided that the side with the most windows must be the dorms. To narrow down the search, I picked up a pebble, but dropped it quickly when Aleone reminded me, "Remember what happened last?"

There were four windows across and it was three stories high, so I had twelve choices. I decided to knock on the second window across to the left and hope it was Lyra's. Unfortunately it wasn't, but a nice girl about my age with red hair, whose name was Maria (twitch) and her green hummingbird dæmon, said that on the floor above them and all the way to the right. I spent five minutes telling her who Aleone and I were and why we were looking for Lyra. Maria (twitch) thought I was sweet, and as she closed her window she said, "If you are ever in town, you know where to find me." (Score!)

Getting to Lyra's room was a bit more of a challenge. We couldn't reach it from standing on the windowsill, plus Aleone can't climb the sides of buildings. In the end, Aleone had to latch herself to my back (yes, it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch) with her claws and I had to climb the rain gutter located at the side of the dorms.

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be… Well, that was until Lyra's roommate opened the window and asked if I was 'The Will." I told her I was actually Daniel Heffley and received a slap to the right cheek. Then she got Lyra who also slapped me on the right cheek before I could explain myself. I believe (or at least I blame) that slap caused the supports to break, and Aleone and I fell to the ground. Don't worry; I sacrificed my body to save Aleone.

I'm not sure how long we were out of consciousness, but I woke up to Lyra patting my face asking what I was doing in her world.

"I need to give you something." I replied while I stood up.

"What is it?" she asked.

"A surprise." I said looking around, "which way to the Botanic Gardens?"

"Why?"

"Because that's where I came from."

There wasn't a whole lot of talking between Lyra and I for the majority of the walk, but Aleone and Pantalaimon wouldn't shut up /what can I say? Pan's a talker/.

When we arrived at a park, which I could only guess to be the Botanic Gardens, Lyra seemed to be guiding the way more than me. I was completely lost nothing new so it didn't bother me. While walking through the gardens we saw a couple of people snogging /why don't you say kissing?/(because I wanted to say snogging) and once or twice I thought I saw movement in a tree or a flower bed, but the closer I looked the more mistaken I seemed to be.

Finally, we arrived at a bench and in doing so, Lyra sat down and Pan jumped up on her lap, "I know you're here Will. There en't no use in hiding." she yelled.

I turned to Aleone, who looked confused, "Did you tell Pan about this?"

"No."

Before I could inquire anymore, somebody grabbed my sides and made me jump /and scream like a girl/. When my feet returned to earth I yelled, "What have I told you about doing that!"

"Sorry," Colleen said wryly, "but it never gets old." Aleone was laughing who wouldn't. When all that was settled out, I looked at Lyra to see her and Will's face locked so tight that I was waiting for their heads to become one (it was worse than Kelsey and Bryce)/you should have heard the noises/.

But before I could voice these comments out loud, I heard the soft noise of moving air and felt two pricks in my neck. I looked down to see Aleone slump to the ground, my vision was becoming blurry. So as loud as I could, I yelled, "RUN!" and I fell to the ground watching all the leaves of the trees become technicolor birds that sang NUMA NUMA. Then I blacked out.

Now to truly understand what happens next, I will pass over the pencil to Colleen Durgan (more experienced at writing)/and better looking, who will tell of her journey to get Aleone and me out of jail. Otherwise I would have to tell you countless pages of eating 'blug' and of my stranger cell-mate.


End file.
